Agony Poem

By Sue Ellson

 

In agony clarity
In agony grief
In agony awareness
That time is a thief

 

It steals our memory
Of joy so sweet
It leaves us hungry
To feel complete

 

In agony we awaken
To our own imperfection
In agony we loosen
Our grip on perfection

 

But here in this place
Where control has gone
We suddenly see
All that we’ve carried on

 

The prize may have passed
Or be on its way
But the agony of this moment
Has brought clarity to our day

 

Agony narrows our lens
It sharpens our focus
The darkness illuminates
The light within us

 

So as I linger
In my own agony
My clearer vision
Lets me truly be

It would be fair to say that I have spent a lot of my life trying to solve challenges. Some of those challenges have been more difficult than others. Today when I woke up, I didn’t have an immediate challenge. It felt strange. I didn’t have something I needed to focus on and I found my thoughts wandering around and I really struggled to decide what to do first.

However, I know full well that when there is a crisis, or even just a deadline, the agony of that time limitation or fear of a consequence will help me rule out all of my other distractions and focus on exactly what needs to be done immediately. New parenthood is similar. When an infant is crying, you work out fairly quickly what needs to be done to make it stop.

I have a sense that our society makes us believe that pain or agony is not a good thing. That it must be avoided at all costs. I don’t wish pain or suffering on anyone, but I can see how agony can be sweet. How it can give me clarity. I guess the next challenge for me is to gain that clarity, without the agony as I suspect it has become a bit of a crutch. Here’s to our collective clarity without agony! With love, Sue Ellson 🙂

Photo is of a succulent plant in Logan Street Canterbury, Melbourne, Victoria on 1 November 2022 at 8:17pm

#agony #agonypoem #SueEllson #SueEllsonPoem #poem #poetry

Shared on Facebook LinkedIn Profile LinkedIn Page Google Pinterest Twitter Instagram

See my other poems here or subscribe to the monthly email newsletter to receive links to the latest publications.